ANALYSIS: Obama Rolls Through the Heartland

President Barack Obama is quite comfortable campaigning in the heartland of rural America.

Obama rolled through Iowa Tuesday on a three-day bus tour where he plans to ask voters to support his vision for the country and reject Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan’s Republican scheme to offer tax breaks to millionaires and dismantle Medicare.

The president is scheduled to visit Oskaloosa, Marshalltown, Waterloo, and Council Bluffs, Iowa and will tell voters that Ryan, Romney’s vice presidential running mate, is blocking a critical farm bill that Congress should pass to provide financial relief to U.S. farmers and ranchers.

“Right now folks here in Iowa and across the heartland are suffering from one of the worst droughts in 50 years,” Obama told a crowd in Council Bluffs Monday. “Farmers and ranchers depend on a good crop season to pay the bills and put a roof over their heads, and I know that things are tough right now.”

“The best way to help these states is for leaders in Congress to pass a farm bill that not only helps farmers and ranchers respond to natural disasters, but also makes necessary reforms and gives them some long-term certainty. But right now, too many members of Congress are blocking that bill from becoming law.”

“Now, I’m told Governor Romney’s new running mate might be around Iowa these next few days,” Obama added. “And he’s one of those leaders of Congress standing in the way. So if you happen to see Congressman Ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to Iowa and our rural communities. It’s time to put politics aside and pass it right away.”

Obama’s campaign swing through Iowa comes as a new poll shows Obama leading Romney by 7 points among registered voters — 52 percent to 45 percent – according to a CNN/ORC International poll. The president, who wants to capitalize on his advantage, is no stranger to Iowa: It is Obama’s fifth trip this year to Iowa and his 11th as president. Folks in Iowa like Obama. In 2008, the president won Iowa –an overwhelmingly white state that helped elect Obama as America’s first black president.

Campaign aides said the president has already cut taxes for a typical Iowa family by about $3,600, which has helped Iowa families afford to send their children to college, buy their first home, pay for health care and child care.

On Monday, Obama told Iowa voters that the lynchpin of the Romney-Ryan economic plan is a $5 trillion tax plan that some independent economists say would raise taxes on middle class families to pay for tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires.

“I think this is the right kind of trip at the right time,” Democratic strategist Jerry Crawford of Des Moines told Iowa reporters. “This is a meaningful investment of time and will pay dividends because of how many folks he will touch.”

Obama's bus tour through Iowa coincides with Romney’s pick of Ryan as his vice presidential running mate. Born and raised in the community of Janesville, Wisconsin, Ryan is a fifth-generation Wisconsin native. Currently serving his 7th term as a Member of Congress, Ryan is considered a rising star in the Republican Party.

But Donna Brazile, a Democratic Party consultant and a political analyst for CNN, said Ryan’s proposed policies are dangerous.

“If there ever was a question about what this election is about, today's announcement answers it,” Brazile wrote on CNN.com. “Throughout this campaign, Mitt Romney has lacked a clear vision. Now he's embraced a radical ideologue with a dangerous one. This election is absolutely a choice between two visions for our country's future. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have solidified their roles as rubber stamps for the reckless and failed economic theories of the past.”

And Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said Romney and Ryan would lead his swing state of Pennsylvania in the wrong direction.

“The Romney-Ryan budget is an attack on our most precious resource, the very people who make up the fabric of this country: our parents, our children, our soldiers and our seniors,” Nutter said in a statement. “By choosing Ryan as his running mate, Romney has made it abundantly clear that he will rubber stamp this extreme Republican plan that brings us back to the same failed economic policies of the Bush Administration and leaves the most vulnerable of our citizens to fend for themselves.”

Meanwhile, as Obama travels through Iowa, he reminds voters that he’s taking action even when Congress is gridlocked. Last week, Obama said, the administration allocated $30 million to help farmers and ranchers get more water to livestock and rehabilitate land affected by the drought. And Monday, Obama said the federal government will help livestock producers by purchasing over $150 million worth of meat and fish while prices are low.

“The folks suffering from this drought can’t wait for Congress to do its job,” Obama told supporters in Iowa. “So in the meantime, I’ve made sure my administration is doing everything we can to provide relief to those who need it.”

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Cindy . . . APPARENTLY YOU FORGOT that the REPUBLICANS intentionally BLOCKED every effort our President Obama made on behalf of HELPING the middle class. THATS WHY THE MIDDLE CLASS HAS SHRUNK!!! SO If you gon tell it at least tell it RIGHT!

Cindy,I was wondering what happened to you and your take on things.Do you honestly believe this administration is not aware of the cash taken in and the money sent out for social security? I believe this administration is aware of those facts it’s just those red necks who insist nothing is being done to save the system
The citizens have witnessed those red necks blocking every initiative this president has proposed.Remember,the red necks vowed he would have a failed
Presidency from the day he was sworn in.

Cindy,I was wondering what happened to you and your take on things.Do you honestly believe this administration is not aware of the cash taken in and the money sent out for social security? I believe this administration is aware of those facts it’s just those red necks who insist nothing is being done to save the system
The citizens have witnessed those red necks blocking every initiative this president has proposed.Remember,the red necks vowed he would have a failed
Presidency from the day he was sworn in.

Folks,Mr Mitt is playing games with the citizens.He selected Ryan to be his choice to run the country if something were to happen to him while in office.I think it is a poor choice for vice president.It’s almost like choosing Palin to please
The red necks.And some folks in the south ain’t buying it.They still see Mr Mitt as
A flip flopping,double talking Yankee..Run real fast and tell that….

Cottman does a dis-service to his readers…….
If Cottman had the guts he would be writing about how”If we dont make changes to S/S and Medicare anybody 55 and under will not have anything left for them, Zero, Nada, Zilch”

What part of over spending and Bankruptcy does this man not understand

@veronicaj Do realize the middle class has shrunk at the highest rate ever over the past four years.
The following records have been set these past four years:
1. Bankruptcy’s
2. Unemployement(Especially among Blacks and Latinos)
3. Poverty at an all time high
4. Home Ownership at an all time low
5. Debt… ALL time high
6. Record unemployement for recent College grads(52% unemployement for them)
How has that been good for the middle class?

Very interestting, I am upset that Romney insult many citizens intelligence with the non-sense that he is promoting. I have several things that crossed my mind, First, I don’t think many people realize that we are giving away our freedom if they do not vote. Second, those who do not pay close attention to the debates will find themselves stuck if a situation they will not be able to get out of for a very long time. Third, what is taking place in my opinion is a new type of slavery but instead of blacks and whites, this is more about rich and poor. There will not be a middle class if more people continue to not register to vote and learn about what is actually taken place right in front of them. It would appear more people are interested in entertainment only and not survival. I pray that we all become active in what our ancestors have fought so hard for us to have and continue the legacy.

Cindy,that is a very loaded question.I am not part of the presidents administration
So go to the White House web site and read for yourself all the facts that concern you.I do know that the red necks want those under 55 to be able to invest their own funds towards their retirement.Really?.What a radical thing to do.But which crowd will get filthy rich on commissions and bonuses handed out from money managers?.And I bet those folks will want to knock some heads when they reach
Retirement and find out the filthy rich man stole all his loot.Then what?.What??